


Not Fair

by Kitt_Monroe



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Minor Canonical Character(s), Most characters don't have important roles, Pre-Canon, Pre-Despair, Spoilers for both games, Suicide mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 10:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2021199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitt_Monroe/pseuds/Kitt_Monroe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You have to figure they would get the Super High-school Level Detective to investigate murders that happened at her own school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Fair

**Author's Note:**

> Basically my idea of "what if Kirigiri was the head detective for Kuzuryuu's sister's and Satou's deaths." I gave Kuzu's sister and Satou first names again.

"For want of sufficient circumstantial evidence, on the single charge of the murder of Nagisa Satou, this court finds the defendant, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu--"

Kirigiri considered clapping her hands over her ears so she wouldn't have to hear the last two words. But she couldn't make her hands move, and she knew she had to hear this anyway. _Hear that I've failed,_ she thought to herself miserably. Her throat tightened as she tried and failed to stop thinking about the fact that she had lost--she had lost even though she was right. She _knew_ she was right about this, all the evidence pointed to that bite-sized yakuza kid in the defendant's chair. And yet here she was, about to hear the presiding judge declare Kuzuryuu innocent, despite that Kirigiri had been so sure she had this trial in the bag from the beginning, despite that she had barely needed to do any investigating to figure out it was Kuzuryuu...

Maybe if she'd investigated more thoroughly, she noted, she would have more evidence to show for it. Maybe if she'd just worked a little harder, she could have turned the tides here. And then, more snidely, she figured that if Kuzuryuu weren't _Kuzuryuu,_ she would have had a better chance of seeing a conviction here. But nooo, this kid's family probably had every judge in Tokyo under the tip of their collective thumb. That was, after all, why he had waived a trial by jury, and pretty much everyone in the courtroom knew that.

Still, if she'd somehow been able to do more...

She wondered what Kuzuryuu was thinking right now. She couldn't see him, as he was sitting in front of her next to his attorney (probably the world's _most expensive_ attorney, she observed), but she was all but certain he had a wickedly delighted grin of some sort on his childish visage. He was probably already celebrating in his head and _planning_ a celebration with his friends for later tonight. Kirigiri wasn't a betting girl--Celes kind of had an iron grip on that market--but if she were, she would bet that the Super High-school Level Gangster hadn't thought for one second that he might be found guilty.

"--Not guilty," the judge concluded.

"The prosecution intends to appeal on procedural errors, Your Honor," Kirigiri vaguely heard the prosecuting attorney say.

"Noted," the judge replied noncommittally, rapping his gavel on the panel. "Court is adjourned."

People rose from their seats, but Kirigiri remained sitting. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kuzuryuu stroll down the aisle and meet up with that bodyguard of his--what was her name, Pekoyama?--before exiting the room, very much carrying with him an almost audible that's-right-bitch attitude.

Once the gangster was gone, Kirigiri stood and made a bee line for the door as well, ignoring totally the en masse, quiet greetings from her classmates. She pushed through the door into the enormous waiting hall before slowing to a stop and staring at her shoes.

 _Not guilty._ The words burned in her mind until she could hear and think nothing else. Not guilty, when she was positive Kuzuryuu was guilty as hell. Not guilty, when she had been able to piece together the entire crime perfectly.

This wasn't fair.

She clenched her gloved hands and then gripped the bottom of her suit jacket with them. The attorney _claimed_ they were going to appeal the verdict, sure, but that worked just about as often as the sun shone green. No, they were probably going to end up putting that gangly-ass sex offender back on trial instead, just to get a conviction.

Even though Satou's killer was literally right there. Right there, and she could literally reach out and grab his scrawny little shoulder and shake him unconscious if she wanted--but what, she couldn't get a judge to call him guilty of a murder he _obviously_ committed? Where was the logic in that?

Isn't that what law is supposed to be, logical? She had worked by that principle for her entire career as a detective, and now what? What was she supposed to do, now that she'd lost?

"Kirigiri-san!" Naegi called from behind her, and she turned slightly to see a bunch of her classmates filing out the door. They were all wearing relatively formal attire (well, mostly all of them; Kirigiri had found that no amount of insisting could get Kuwata to wear "uncool" clothes, as he called them, and Celes stood firm in her belief that her Gothic-style dress was perfectly suited for a courtroom), and they approached her carefully, as if any sudden movement could cause Kirigiri to shatter into a million pieces.

"We were trying to get your attention before," Oowada complained.

"Well, obviously, she didn't want to talk right after the verdict," Asahina hissed, punching him lightly.

"Kirigiri-kun, are you feeling well?" Ishimaru asked gravely.

"Of course she's not, she just lost the case," Enoshima snapped at him.

"Um, Kirigiri-san..." Fujisaki mumbled. "I, uh...sorry about what happened..."

"I thought for sure you had Kuzuryuu-chi on the ropes before!" Hagakure noted. "I mean, it was like when the Garrison Fish Army fought Prime Minister Noda in the vision I had last Sunday--"

"This is _so_ not the time, Hagakure," Togami cut him off with a glare.

"Guys, I'm fine," Kirigiri assured them. "I just didn't do a good enough job, that's all."

"But Kirigiri-san," Naegi protested softly, holding out a hand for her, which she took without much motivation. "What happened in there...it's not fair at all."

Kirigiri almost smiled at that--she had thought the exact same thing just a minute ago. Sometimes she was a little alarmed at how in touch Naegi could be with other people's emotions. "Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu is guilty," the Super High-school Level Good Luck continued emphatically, "and everyone knows it. It's not fair that he just gets to go free..."

"It is his connections," Celes added. "His family controls everything and everyone--that is the problem."

"Exactly!" Yamada agreed. "Kirigiri Kyouko-dono, I hope you don't see this as your fault; it's just as Celes-dono says!"

"I said, it's okay," Kirigiri insisted, somewhat exasperated. "My world isn't going to end because I lost one trial."

That was mostly a lie--she actually _did_ feel more or less like her life was over now, but of course she couldn't tell them that.

Naegi looked...frustrated, maybe? He looked frustrated that Kirigiri was so calm. "Well, Kirigiri-san, just remember, if you ever need anything, or if you just need cheering up, you have all of us, okay?"

"Totally," Enoshima agreed, holding up a peace sign.

"Yes, Kirigiri-san, please don't think you're alone here," Maizono assured her.

Kirigiri was almost confused as to why they were all reacting so strongly to this, but she had to admit, with her clenched fists and tensed up shoulders, it wasn't like she was the picture of stone-cold calmness right now.

She was going to answer them when she saw something that caught her eye. The others followed her gaze to another group of teenagers standing a little ways away; they all recognized the kids as the Hope's Peak class one year below them. Kirigiri recognized very few of those students, but among them stood Mahiru Koizumi, the Super High-school Level Photographer who had turned out to be _so helpful_ in the investigation (extreme sarcasm). The students were chatting discreetly, and Kirigiri suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to disturb them.

"If you'll excuse me for a second," she requested, and she barely registered Naegi's understanding nod as she strode purposefully over to the other students. Like Kirigiri's classmates, most of them were dressed appropriately; apparently Akane Owari couldn't be bothered to wear anything classier than her usual skirt and blouse, and the Super High-school Level Mechanic--Souda, Kirigiri remembered in a sudden flash--had only upgraded his style slightly from his usual jumpsuit to a long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

"Greetings," the Super High-school Level Princess (Kirigiri couldn't quite remember her name) offered.

"Detective Kirigiri," the bony white-haired one greeted her. "Very nice to see you--you know, you were _marvelous_ in there, that was some excellent detective work--"

"Thanks," Kirigiri stopped him. Turning to the photographer, who already looked displeased to see her, she added, "I just wanted to thank you for your participation in this trial, Koizumi-san."

It was a searing remark in the politest possible tone, and Kirigiri didn't love to admit it but she was a big fan of making those kinds of remarks. And Koizumi certainly deserved it right now; if this...this bland redhead creature had actually had any sense of justice, then one of two things would have happened: either Satou would have been brought to account for Katsumi Kuzuryuu's murder, or _Fuyuhiko_ Kuzuryuu would have stood a better chance of being convicted just a couple minutes ago.

But no, Koizumi had decided to take matters into her own small, freckly hands. She'd tried to help Satou cover up her crime, and that had _helpfully_ thrown the whole case into doubt and allowed Kuzuryuu's defense to claim that the prosecution didn't know what it was doing.

Yeah, there were a few different specific reasons Kuzuryuu had just been acquitted--he was well-connected, it was a difficult case for the prosecution to make _anyway,_ and maybe, just maybe, Kirigiri hadn't investigated well enough... But it was also really nice to be able to look at the Super High-school Level Photographer right now and think to herself, _It's your fault._

"I-I didn't mean to cause trouble," Koizumi defended weakly, trying to look anywhere but at Kirigiri.

Sure she didn't mean to cause trouble, Kirigiri agreed bitterly. And Majorian didn't  _mean_ to die and screw the Roman Empire, and Anne Frank didn't _mean_ to not finish her diary. Kirigiri considered saying exactly that but decided against it in favor of a much more cutting response:

"Well, I just hope you're happy with how everything turned out," she suggested, coolly but sounding very pleasant. She was so polite.

Some of Koizumi's friends shuffled slightly to form a vague protective bubble around her. Hiyoko Saionji glared daggers at Kirigiri, and the Super High-school Level Cook (Kirigiri had to choke back a laugh every time she looked at that guy; his pompadour always brought the phrase "budget Oowada" to the forefront of her mind) checked his watch conspicuously in an obvious effort to make Kirigiri disappear.

Kirigiri didn't disappear. "And really, you _should_ be," she continued. "After all, the prosecutor is going to forego an obstruction charge on you because she knows you'll try an extortion plea. And, since the girl who would allegedly have extorted you is dead, we won't be able to fight it."

Koizumi bit her lip and hung her head slightly. More of her classmates leveled upset expressions at Kirigiri, and the Super High-school Level Coach placed a hand on Koizumi's shoulder, as if to give her strength. "And besides," Kirigiri went on pointedly, "I figure you've been punished enough, right? After all, your best friend's been murdered, and the kid who did it just walked free." And now, _very_ pleasantly, "Because of you."

"Hey!" Saionji interrupted, taking a threatening step toward Kirigiri. It was all Kirigiri could do not to burst into laughter at this 4'3" bratty Enoshima clone who somehow thought she could intimidate the detective. "You're hurting Big Sis Koizumi's feelings, you big meanie!"

"Maybe you should just go, Kyouko-chan," Ibuki Mioda informed her with an obviously plastered-on bright smile. The others ad libbed their agreement.

Kirigiri didn't even acknowledge them, her gaze still trained on Koizumi, who looked more hurt than anything else. It was almost really difficult for Kirigiri to actually stay cross with this girl--this girl who had only wanted to save her friend from being caught for a murder committed to protect her, this girl who had then lost that same friend in a raging cycle of revenge--but at the same time it was really difficult to even consider forgiving her.

So since she wasn't sure what else to say, Kirigiri drew herself to full posture (taking a very petty moment to relish the fact that she was about three quarters of an inch taller than Koizumi) and proclaimed, "I just hope you're happy."

She ignored the white-haired guy's--oh right, Nagito Komaeda was his name--protests about how that was a flagrant misuse of hope and Kirigiri should be ashamed, turning around and starting back toward her own classmates.

She didn't make it to her classmates. Instead, she was accosted by the triumphant stare of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, who was striding toward her with his hands in his pockets. Kirigiri stopped dead, making the very subtle point that she wasn't going to exert any effort in order to meet up with him. Plus, she feared if she moved at all, she would accidentally bump into him and accidentally trip and accidentally grip his fancy pinstriped suit for support and rip it to shreds and incinerate it. Accidentally.

Behind her, she heard Kuzuryuu's classmates move a little closer to her, as if to make sure she didn't attack Kuzuryuu or something. Normally, she was unbendingly calm in situations like this, but right now, she was a little glad they might stop her from assaulting the gangster, because she wouldn't put it past herself to do just that.

"Hey, Kirigiri," Kuzuryuu greeted her, grinning like an asshole.

"Hello," she returned primly.

"So, I guess I won, huh?" he noted in that unflappably pleased tone of voice a person might have immediately after seeing a classmate they don't like get called out by a professor.

"It seems that way," Kirigiri agreed, wishing he would go away and also cease to exist.

"So how's it feel?" he inquired, grinning wide enough to show off his incredibly white teeth. Kirigiri made a great effort to resist the urge to punch out a few of them.

"It's not fantastic, thanks," she told him.

He looked happy with that. "But hey, don't feel too bad," he assured her, tilting his head to the side in mock sympathy. "Sometimes you just don't get what you want, huh?"

"True," she agreed.

"Kirigiri-san?" Naegi called from a little ways away, holding up his cell phone. "Your father's on the phone and wants to talk to you!"

Kirigiri smiled internally. Naegi was more or less a literal life-saver when it came to situations like this; he always knew exactly when one of his friends needed to exit an encounter with someone else, and he always knew just how to help them out. "I beg your pardon, Kuzuryuu-kun," she requested, not waiting for a response before she walked past him, toward a smiling Naegi.

"What, you gonna cry to Headmaster Daddy?" Kuzuryuu wondered.

Okay, _that's it._ Kirigiri wheeled on Kuzuryuu, who was still grinning ear to ear as though fashioned in plastic and made to look that way. She wasn't positive what her own face looked like, but Kuzuryuu's grin immediately faltered when he saw it, so she must have looked scary. _Good,_ she thought, advancing toward him at the highest speed she could while still walking.

She took hold of his necktie with the weird dead fish motif and pulled him right up against her, looking down into his now-troubled gray eyes. "Alright, you listen to me," she demanded. It might sound silly, but it was true: Damage to her reputation, personal insults against her, and even ruthless taunting Kirigiri could withstand, but this murderous half-pint trash-talking her father was not something she was about to tolerate. And even if she couldn't win against Kuzuryuu in court, she could at least wipe that smug little grin off his face.

"Kirigiri-san!" Naegi cried, but she ignored him.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Souda told her.

"D-detective Kirigiri-san, p-please...!" added the Super High-school Level Nurse, approaching them slightly. Kirigiri's warning glance at all of Kuzuryuu's classmates silenced them totally.

Looking back down at Kuzuryuu, she continued. "I'm sure you feel good about yourself right now, and so you should. You just escaped a murder charge, after all; you probably want to go home and congratulate yourself, and so you should. Things went very well for you in there, and I personally extend my praise at your utter capacity to manipulate the world to your will."

Kuzuryuu had assumed a bitter expression by this point but didn't speak, so Kirigiri went on: "But know this, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu: this isn't the end between you and me. I _will_ make you pay for what you did to Nagisa Satou. I hope you have fun tonight celebrating your victory, because if you haven't committed suicide by tomorrow morning you will wish you had."

Kuzuryuu swallowed quietly. "I will make your life a living hell," Kirigiri kept going still, almost unable to stop herself at this point. She was actually pretty surprised by what was coming out of her mouth at this point, but she let herself continue because it felt almost cathartic to do this. "If you take the bus to school, I will question the driver. If you _blow your nose,_ I will investigate the handkerchief. I don't care how long it takes. Someday--maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday--you'll pay."

Kuzuryuu rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers apropos of nothing. "Kirigiri-san!" Naegi called again, making his way carefully over to the pair.

That was just as well; Kirigiri was pretty much done threatening Kuzuryuu, and she was just about to answer Naegi. Before anything else could be said, however, a fierce alto-range call of "Hey!" rang throughout the hallway. Kirigiri looked up to see Pekoyama speeding toward her and Kuzuryuu so fast she was almost a blur.

Kirigiri's grip on Kuzuryuu's tie slackened slightly as the Super High-school Level Swordswoman approached. Pekoyama didn't appear at all out of breath when she reached them, but she fixed a disarming glare on Kirigiri's entire presence. "Get. Off. Of him," she ordered in a low voice.

Kirigiri stared at her for a second, then looked back at Kuzuryuu and relinquished her choke hold on his necktie. "Of course," she affirmed. "My most sincere apologies, Kuzuryuu-kun."

"Feh," Kuzuryuu scoffed, turning around to face his classmates.

"Let us go, young master," Pekoyama suggested. "Detective Kirigiri is probably very busy."

The two of them abandoned her and joined the other students in their class, who cast looks of varying levels of disdain and/or worry toward Kirigiri before all starting down the hallway as a group. That in and of itself was as much an insult to Kirigiri as anything else that had happened. Even though Kuzuryuu was clearly a villain, even though he had obviously just killed one of their other classmates, the younger students preferred to accept him back into their group rather than appreciate Kirigiri's attempt, however unsuccessful, to bring him to task for what he had done.

Kirigiri felt a pair of small arms wrap loosely around her from behind and turned her head to see Fujisaki frowning empathetically up at her. After carefully maneuvering inside Fujisaki's grip and turning around to face the others, she waved vaguely.

"Kirigiri-san..." Naegi mumbled.

"Sorry you all had to see that," Kirigiri answered, authority and calmness creeping back into her voice. "I usually make it a point never to lose my cool like that."

"You don't have to be sorry, Kirigiri-chan," Asahina assured her, pressing her index fingers together with a slight sigh. "I mean, people like Kuzuryuu can be hard to deal with..."

"He's nothing," Ikusaba announced, surprising everyone a little. The Super High-school Level Soldier didn't usually do a lot of talking, especially when they were all in a group like this, preferring instead to let Enoshima talk enough for both of them. "You can't let someone like that get to you. He's nothing, he's not worth it at all."

"So true, Mukuro!" Enoshima cheered, giving her sister a brief hair tousle.

"H-he's basically a tiny, dirty-mouthed version of B-Byakuya-sama," Fukawa agreed, clicking her fingernails together. "A-and there can only be _one_ Byakuya-sama--that Kuzuryuu guy is j-just a poser...!"

"Keep in mind, Kirigiri, it is not your detective skills that are at fault," Oogami added. "This trial was not fair from the beginning, given Kuzuryuu's family's influence."

"Yeah, you'll get him next time!" Kuwata offered with a thumbs up.

"Thank you, guys," Kirigiri returned with a slight smile. Somehow, in their own weird ways, her classmates always knew how to make things better.

"Do you want to head out now, Kirigiri-san?" Naegi asked, subtly offering her his hand.

She took it, with a good deal more motivation this time. "Sure, let's," she confirmed, and they all started down the hallway. Yeah, maybe it wasn't fair that Kuzuryuu got to go free, and maybe it wasn't fair that she'd lost. But maybe she didn't need everything to be fair, and as long as she had her friends with her, her world  _wasn't_ going to end.


End file.
